J Alfred Prufrock

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death. I believe Prufrock yearns for the sense of belonging, both with a female and with his
society. He struggles with issues of sex, age and social change.
The beginning lines of the poem(1-25) paint for a very descriptive picture of the street
where Prufrock is walking. It also alerts the reader of Prufrock’s distaste for this area and this
society. He describes it as “have deserted”,”muttering”.”one-night cheap hotels” and “sawdust
restaurants”.(5-7) He contrasts that with his destination of a “room where women come and
go/Talking of Michelangelo”(13&14). Prufrock doesn’t give the reader much insight into his
thoughts until line 26. From this line forward, we get a glimpse of what it must be like to be
Prufrock. He tells us “There will be time, there will be time/ To prepare a face to meet the faces
that you meet”(27-28), indicating repression. He must “prepare” himself mentally to be able to
put on the correct social image before he makes his “visit”(12). The rest of ...

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the music from a farther room”(52-53), and realizes that he is at the end of his
time. I think he realizes that he is not a member of the modern society, nor am I sure he wants to
be. But he does feel that he is watched like a specimen “formulated, sprawling on a pin”(57). But
unlike a bug in a bug collection, he is still alive and tortured “wriggling on the wall”(58). He
realizes that his customs are a part of the past, but he is unable to see the way to move on. He
thinks perhaps he should “spit out the butt-ends of my days and ways”(60) but realizes he
wouldn’t know how to resume life in the new world “And how should I presume?”(61).

2.
Prufrock goes back to his own way of ...

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